LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The United Auto Workers announced nearly 9,000 union employees at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant will strike on Friday, Feb. 23 if local contract issues are not resolved.

The UAW says Ford Motor Company has failed to reach a local agreement with the UAW Local 862 at the truck plant more than five months past the contract deadline. According to the union, the core issues in the local negotiations are health and safety in the plant, including “minimum in-plant nurse staffing levels and ergonomic issues, as well as Ford’s continued attempts to erode the skilled trades at Kentucky Truck Plant.”

In a news release, the union said UAW Vice President Chuck Browning has asked for authorization from UAW President Shawn Fain to set a strike deadline for Feb. 23 at 12:01 a.m.

The announcement follows Ford Company CEO Jim Farley’s announcement the automaker would rethink where it builds vehicles after last year’s strike.

The UAW union overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with Ford on Nov. 18, 2023, following similar union deals with General Motors and Stellantis. The new contracts were widely seen as a victory for UAW. The companies agreed to raise pay for top-scale assembly plant workers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into 33% wage gains. Top assembly plant workers are to receive immediate 11% raises and will earn roughly $42 an hour when the contracts expire in April 2028.

Under the agreements, the automakers also ended many of the multiple tiers of wages they had used to pay different workers. They also agreed in principle to bring new electric-vehicle battery plants into the national union contract.

The contracts brought to an end a months-long standoff between union workers and “the Big Three” automakers of Ford, GM and Stellantis. UAW kicked off the strikes on Sept. 15, 2023 at one assembly in each company. The union later extended the strike to parts warehouses and other factories to intensify pressure on the automakers until tentative agreements were reached late in October.

The union escalated its strike efforts when, in a surprise move, 8,700 workers left their jobs at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant on Oct. 11, 2023. The truck plant makes heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs, some of the company’s most lucrative products.

This is a developing story. We will add more details when they become available.

Spectrum News 1 has reached out to Ford for comment and are waiting to hear back.

This is a developing story. We will add more details when they become available.